The present invention relates generally to apparatus devised for general cleaning purposes, and more particularly, to a wall-mounted inlet valve assembly for a central vacuum cleaning system.
In the conventional central vacuum cleaning systems, a number of inlet valves are mounted in the walls of a building or house and are interiorly connected within the wall structure to a central vacuum producing system. Each room of the building or house is adapted to be cleaned by a standard vacuum cleaner by insertion of a suitable coupling at one end of a flexible hose for the cleaner into the inlet valve, and by activating the vacuum system control for effecting operation of the vacuum producing means. The flexible hose and vacuum cleaner assembly may be carried or moved from room to room and be connected to other wall inlet valves for further vacuum cleaning.
One of the problems in the installation of a central vacuum system of the type which is provided with one or more inlet wall valves for one or more of the rooms of a building or house is in the particular installation devices utilized with the wall mount for the inlet valve. Generally wall mounts are equipped with a back mounting plate designed to be turned and pushed through an opening cut into a wall and to which a front plate for the inlet valve is mounted by suitable fasteners. Since the installer is not able to position his hand on the back side of a wall, it is difficult for him to hold the back plate while the front plate is attached thereto. These installations can be time consuming and very aggravating because of frustrations resulting from many attempts to hold the back plate in place while trying to apply fasteners such as screws and the like to hold the front plate to the back plate.
Prior art attempts to solve this problem usually require high cost fasteners and time consuming manipulations which result in high cost installation labor charges. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,291,927, an inlet valve assembly is disclosed which utilizes "toggle" bolts used in conjunction with added drilled holes formed in the wall. A self-securing fastening device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,790 which utilizes a pair of spring members 54 adapted to be pushed through an opening for a wiring outlet device. These spring members are particularly shaped for engaging and locking in the side walls of an opening formed in a concrete floor which is to support the electrical outlet. These spring members have no structural arrangement adapted to reach the back of a wall for supporting the wiring receptacle. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,076,068, a vacuum cleaning wall mount receptacle is disclosed which utilizes a backplate requiring extra drilling and location of drill holes for the insertion of mounting screws.